Table Of ContentI~
MUHAMMAD
his life based on the earliest sources
Contents
I
The House of God page I
II
A Great Loss 4
III
Quraysh of the Hollow 6
IV
The Recovery of a Loss 10
V
The Vow to Sacrifice a Son 12
VI
The Need for a Prophet IS
VII
The Year of the Elephant 19
VIII
The Desert 23
IX
Two Bereavements 27
X
Bahira the Monk 29
XI
A Pact of Chivalry 3I
XII
Questions of Marriage 33
XIII
The Household 37
XIV
The Rebuilding of the Ka'bah 41
XV
The First Revelations 43
XVI
Worship 46
XVII
"Warn Thy Family"
50
XVIII
Quraysh Take Action 52
XIX
Aws and Khazraj 56
XX
Abu Jahl and Harnzah 58
XXI
Quraysh Make Offers and Demands 60
XXII
Leaders of Quraysh 64
XXIII
Wonderment and Hope 67
XXIV
Family Divisions 70
XXV
The Hour 75
XXVI
Three Questions 77
XXVII
Abyssinia 81
XXVIII
'Umar 85
XXIX
The Ban and its Annulment 88
XXX
Paradise and Eternity 93
XXXI
The Year of Sadness
96
XXXII
"The Light of Thy Countenance"
101
XXXIII
After the Year of Sadness
105
XXXIV
Yathrib Responsive
108
XXXV
Many Emigrations
II3
XXXVI
A Conspiracy
II6
XXXVII
The Hijrah
II8
XXXVIII
The Entry into Medina
123
XXXIX
Harmony and Discord
125
XL
The New Household
132
XLI
The Threshold of War
135
XLII
The March to Badr
13 8
XLIII
The Battle of Badr
146
XLIV
The Return of the Vanquished
153
VIII Contents
XLV The Captives page ISS
XLVI Bani Qaynuqa' 160
XLVII Deaths and Marriages 163
XLVIII The People of the Bench 167
XLIX Desultory Warfare 170
L Preparations for Battle 172.
LI The March to Uhud 177
LII The Battle of Uhud 180
LIII Revenge 189
LIV The Burial of the Martyrs 191
LV AfterUhud 195
LVI Victims of Revenge 199
LVII Bani Nadir 2.0 3
LVIII Peace and War 2.06
LIX The Trench 2.15
LX The Siege 2.2.0
LXI Bani Qurayzah 2.2.9
LXII After the Siege 234
LXIII The Hypocrites 2.37
LXIV The Necklace 2.40
LXV The Lie 2.43
LXVI The Dilemma of Quraysh 2.47
LXVII "A Clear Victory" 2.52.
LXVIII After Hudaybiyah 2.57
LXIX Khaybar 2.63
LXX "Whom Lovest Thou Most?" 2.70
LXXI After Khaybar 2.74
LXXII The Lesser Pilgrimage and its Aftermath 2.80
LXXIII Deaths and the Promise of a Birth 2.86
LXXIV A Breach of the Armistice 2.9 1
LXXV The Conquest of Mecca 2.97
LXXVI The Battle of Hunayn and the Siege of Ta'if 304
LXXVII Reconciliations 308
LXXVIII After the Victory 313
LXXIX Tabuk 317
LXXX After Tabuk 32.0
LXXXI The Degrees 32.6
LXXXII
The Future 32.9
LXXXIII
The Farewell Pilgrimage 332.
LXXXIV
The Choice 337
LXXXV
The Succession and the Burial 342.
Map ofArabia (by Steven W. Johnson) 346
Qurayshofthe Hollow (genealogicaltree) 347
Note on Pronunciation ofArabic Names 348
Key to References 349
Index 350
I
The House of God
T
HE Book of Genesis tells us that Abraham was ch.ildless, without
hope of children, and that one night God summoned him out of his
tent and said to him: "Look now towards heaven, and count the
stars if thou art able to number them." And as Abraham gazed up at the
stars he heard the voice say: "So shall thy seed be."'
Abraham's wife Sarah was then seventy-six years old, he being eighty
five; and she gave him her handmaid Hagar, an Egyptian, that he might
take her as his second wife. But bitterness of feeling arose between the
mistress and the handmaid, and Hagar fled from the anger of Sarah and
cried out to God in her distress. And He sent to her an Angel with the
message: "I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be
numbered for multitude." The Angel also said to her: "Behold, thou art
with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because
the Lord hath heard thy affliction. Then Hagar returned to Abraham and
"2
Sarah and told them what the Angel had said; and when the birth took
place, Abraham named his son Ishmael, which means "God shall hear".
When the boy reached the age of thirteen, Abraham was in his hun
dredth year, and Sarah was ninety years old; and God spoke again to
Abraham and promised him that Sarah also should bear him a son who
must be called Isaac. Fearing that his elder son might thereby lose favour in
the sight of God, Abraham prayed: "0 that Ishmael might live before
Thee!" And God said to him: "As for Ishmael, I have heard thee. Behold, I
have blessed him . .. and I will make him a great nation. But My covenant
will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time
in the next year.
3
Sarah gave birth to Isaac and it was she herself who suckled him; and
when he was weaned she told Abraham that Hagar and her son must no
longer remain in their household. And Abraham was deeply grieved at this,
on account of his love for Ishmael; but again God spoke to him, and told
him to follow the counsel of Sarah, and not to grieve; and again He
promised him that Ishmael should be blessed.
Not one but two great nations were to look back to Abraham as their
father - two great nations, that is, two guided powers, two instruments to
work the Will of Heaven, for God does not promise as a blessing that
which is profane, nor is there any greatness before God except greatness in
the Spirit. Abraham was thus the fountain-head of two spiritual streams,
I 15: 5. 2 16: IO-II. J 17: 2.0-1.
2 Muhammad
which must not flow together, but each in its own course; and he entrusted
Hagar and Ishmael to the blessing of God and the care of His Angels in the
certainty that all would be well with them.
Two spiritual streams, two religions, two worlds for God; two circles,
therefore two centres. A place is never holy through the choice of man, but
because it has been chosen in Heaven. There were two holy centres within
the orbit of Abraham: one of these was at hand, the other perhaps he did
not y~t know; and it was to the other that Hagar and Ishmael were guided,
in a barren valley of Arabia, some forty camel days south of Canaan. The
valley was named Becca, some say on account of its narrowness: hills
surround it on all sides except for three passes, one to the north, one to the
south, and one opening towards the Red Sea which is fifty miles to the
west. The Books do not tell us how Hagar and her son reached Becca;
perhaps some travellers took care of them, for the valley was on one of the
great caravan routes, sometimes called "the incense route", because
perfumes and incense and such wares were brought that way from South
Arabia to the Mediterranean; and no doubt Hagar was guided to leave the
caravan, once the place was reached. It was not long before both mother
and son were overcome by thirst, to the point that Hagar feared Ishmael
was dying. According to the traditions of their descendants, he cried out to
God from where he lay in the sand, and his mother stood on a rock at the
foot ofanearby eminencetoseeifanyhelpwasinsight.Seeingnoone,she
hastened to another point of vantage, but from there likewise not a soul
was to be seen. Half distraught, she passed seven times in all between the
two points, until at the end of her seventh course, as she sat for rest on the
further rock, the Angel spoke to her. Inthe words of Genesis:
And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to
Hagaroutofheavenandsaidto her: Whataileththee, Hagar?Fearnot,
for God hath heard the voice ofthe lad where he is. Arise and lift up the
lad and hold him in thy hand, for I will make him a great nation. And
God opened her eyes, and she saw a well ofwater,'
The water was a spring which God caused to well up from the sand at the
touch of Ishmael's heel; and thereafter the valley soon became a halt for
caravans by reason of the excellence and abundance of the water; and the
well was named Zamzam.
As to Genesis, it is the book of Isaac and his descendants, not of
Abraham's other line. Of Ishmael it tells us: And God was with the lad;
and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness and became an archer? After that
it scarcely mentions his name; except to inform us that the two brothers
Isaac and Ishmael together buried their father in Hebron, and that some
years later Esau married his cousin, the daughter of Ishmael. But there is
indirect praise of Ishmael and his mother in the Psalm which opens How
amiable are Thy tabernacles, 0 Lord of hosts, and which tells of the
miracle of Zamzam as having been caused by their passing through the
valley: Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee; inuihose heart are the
ways ofthem who passing through the valley ofBaca make it a well:'
I :1.1: 17-20 • 2 ibid. 3 Psalm 84: 5-6.
The House ofGod 3
When Hagar and Ishmael reached their destination Abraham had still
seventy-five years to live, and he visited his son in the holy place to which
Hagar had been guided. The Koran tells us that God showed him the exact
site, near to the well of Zamzam, upon which he and Ishmael must build a
sanctuary;' and they were told how it must be built. Its name, Ka'bah,
cube, is in virtue of its shape which is approximately cubic; its four corners
are towards the four points of the compass. But the most holy object in that
holy place is a celestial stone which, it is said, was brought by an Angel to
Abraham from the nearby hill Abu Qubays, where it had been preserved
ever since it had reached the earth. "It descended from Paradise whiter
than milk, but the sins of the 'sons of Adam made it black."! This black
stone they built into the eastern corner of the Ka'bah; and when the
sanctuary was completed, God spoke again to Abraham and bade him
institute the rite of the Pilgrimage to Becca- or Mecca, as it later came to be
called: Purify My House for those who go the rounds ofit and who stand
beside it and bow and make prostration. And proclaim unto men the
pilgrimage, that they may come unto thee on foot and on every lean camel
outofevery deep ravine.'
Now Hagar had told Abraham of her search for help, and he made it
part of the rite of the Pilgrimage that the pilgrims should pass seven times
between Safa and Marwah, for so the two eminences between which she
had passed had come to be named.
And later Abraham prayed, perhaps in Canaan, looking round him at
the rich pastures and fields of corn and wheat: Verily I have settleda line of
mineoffspringinatilthlessvalleyat ThyHoly House . .. Therefore incline
unto them men's hearts, and sustain them with fruits that they may be
thankful.4 .
I XII, 2.6. 2 Saying of the Prophet, Tir. VII, 49. (See Key to References, p. 349.)
J K. XXII, 2.6-7. 4 K. XIV, 37.
II
A
Great Loss
X
RAHAM'S prayer was answered, and rich gifts were continually
brought to Mecca by the pilgrims who came to visit the Holy House
in increasing numbers from all parts of Arabia and beyond. The
Greater Pilgrimage was made once a year; but the Ka'bah could also be
honoured through a lesser pilgrimage at any time; and these rites con
tinued to be performed with fervour and devotion according to the rules
which Abraham and Ishmael had established. The descendants of Isaac
also venerated the Ka'bah, as a temple that had been raised by Abraham.
For them it counted as one of the outlying tabernacles of the Lord. But as
the centuries passed the purity of the worship of the One God came to be
contaminated. The descendants of Ishmael became too numerous to live
all in the valley of Mecca; and those who wentto settle elsewhere took with
them stones from the holy precinct and performed rites in honour of them.
Later, through the influence of neighbouring pagan tribes, idols came to be
added to the stones; and finally pilgrims began to bring idols to Mecca.
These were set up in the vicinity of the Ka'bah, and it was then that the
Jews ceased to visit the temple of Abraham.'
The idolaters claimed that their idols were powers which acted as
mediators between God and men. As a result, their approach to God
became less and less direct, and the remoter He seemed, the dimmer
became their sense of the reality of the World-to-come, until many of them
ceased to believe in life after death. But in their midst, for those who could
interpret it, there was a clear sign that they had fallen away from the truth:
they no longer had access to the Well of Zamzam, and they had even
forgotten where it lay. The jurhumites who had come from the Yemen
were directly responsible. They had established themselves in control of
Mecca, and the descendants of Abraham had tolerated this because
Ishmael's second wife was a kinswoman of Jurhum; but the time came
when the Jurhumites began to commit all sorts of injustices, for which they
were finally driven out; and before they left they buried the Well of
Zamzam. No doubt they did this by way of revenge, but it was also likely
thattheyhopedto return and enrich themselvesfrom it, for theyfilleditup
with part of the treasure of the sanctuary, offerings of pilgrims which had
accumulated in the Ka'bah over the years; then they covered it with sand.
Their place as lords of Mecca was taken by Khuza'ah', an Arab tribe
lLL,I5·
2 See index for note on pronunciation of Arabic names, p. 348.
A GreatLoss 5
descended from Ishmael which had migrated to the Yemen and then
returned northwards. But the Khuza'ites now made no attempt to find the
waters that had been miraculously given to their ancestor. Since his day
other wells had been dug in Mecca, God's gift was no longer a necessity,
and the Holy Well became a half forgotten memory. .
Khuza'ah thus shared the guilt of jurhum. They were also to blame in
other respects: a chieftain of theirs, on his way back from a journey to
Syria,had asked the Moabitesto givehimoneoftheir idols.Theygavehim
Hubal, which he brought back to the Sanctuary, setting it up within the
Ka'bah itself; and it became the chief idol of Mecca.
III
Quraysh of the
Hollow
X
OTHER of the most powerful Arab tribes of Abrahamic descent
was Quraysh; and about four hundred years after Christ, a man of
Quraysh named Qusayy married a daughter of Hulayl who was
then chief of Khuza'ah, Hulayl preferred his son-in-law to his own sons,
for Qusayy was outstanding amongst Arabs of his time, and on the death
of Hulayl, after a fierce battle which ended in arbitration, it was
agreed that Qusayy should rule over Mecca and be the guardian of the
Ka'bah.
He thereupon brought those of Quraysh who were his nearest of kin and
settled them in the valley, beside the Sanctuary - his brother Zuhrah; his
uncle Taym; Makhzum, the son of another uncle; and one or two cousins
who were less close. These and their posterity were known as Quraysh of
the Hollow, whereas Qusayy's more remote kinsmen settled in the ravines
of the surrounding hills and in the countryside beyond and were known as
Quraysh of the Outskirts. Qusayy ruled over them all as king, with
undisputed power, and they paid him a tax every year on their flocks, so
that he might feed those of the pilgrims who were too poor to provide for
themselves. Until then the keepers of the Sanctuary had lived round it in
tents. But Qusayy now told them to build themselves houses, having
already built himself a spacious dwelling which was known as the House
of Assembly.
All was harmonious, but seeds of discord were about to be sown. Itwas
a marked characteristic of Qusayy's line that in each generation there
would be one man who was altogether pre-eminent. Amongst Qusayy's
four sons, this man was'Abdu Manaf, who was already honoured in his
father's lifetime. But Qusayy preferred his first-born, 'Abd ad-Dar,
although he was the least capable of all; and shortly before his death he
saidto him: "Myson, Iwillsettheelevelwith theothers indespiteofmen's
honouring them more than thee. None shall enter the Ka'bah except thou
open it for him, and no hand but thine shall knot for Quraysh their ensign
of war,nor shall any pilgrim draw water for drink in Mecca except thou
give him the right thereto, nor shall he eat food except it be of thy
providing, nor shall Quraysh resolve upon any matter except it be in thy
